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The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers will allow the language-arts portions of the test to be read aloud or interpreted in American Sign Language for students with disabilities and give parts of the test in the native languages of students who are English-language learners. The 21-state partnership approved the accommodations, with Colorado representatives casting the only dissenting vote because they said the test would fail to assess students' ability to read.

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Students with disabilities and English-language learners who received read-aloud accommodations on the National Assessment of Educational Progress posted higher scores than similar peers who did not receive such accommodations, according to a report published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers NAEP. Some say the findings from the study could be useful as groups develop accommodation plans for assessments linked to Common Core State Standards.

Under guidelines recently adopted by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, students in grades 3 through 5 will not have access to read-aloud support for text passages on Common Core State Standard assessments developed by the group. The guidelines allow all students to access read-aloud support on test questions, if needed, but limit read-aloud of passages to older students who demonstrate a need for the accommodation.

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers has published a final draft and other materials outlining its policies on accommodations for Common Core State Standards assessments. The guidelines will permit students with disabilities to have read-aloud accommodations during the English/language arts section of the test and have access to American Sign Language interpreters as needed.

State consortia designing new assessments aligned with Common Core State Standards for students with disabilities face a number of challenges. In addition to concerns about the computer-adaptive format of the tests, whether schools are adequately preparing students and other factors, a debate about read-aloud accommodations is focused on how much help students should receive in reading test instructions and content.

Testing experts are advising groups developing new common core assessments on technology that can help make the tests accessible to students who are learning English or who have special needs. The open-source Accessible Portable Item Profile Standards allow certain features, such as language translation or read-aloud text to be turned on and off according to individual students' profiles. Some experts stressed the importance of building accommodations into the tests up front, while other officials expressed concerns about potential issues with the computerized accommodations.